Shuttle



- March 12, 1929. G. HOFFMANN LWSQW SHUTTLE Filed Jan. 51, 1928 Ill! a t /0 I /0 Patented Mar. 12, 1929.

UNITED; STATES 1,705,290 PATENT OFFICE.

GOTTFRIED HOFFMANN, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

. SHUTTLE.

Application filed January 31, 1928. Serial No.'250,817.

The present. invention relates to shuttles, particularly for silk looms. Owing to the thinness of the silk weft thread, the latter is liable to easily break. To avoid this the bobbins must be so arranged as to be capable of freely revolving without the slightest resistance while the thread is being unwound, and when the shuttle at the ends of its stroke is shifted to a parallel line must be stopped or at least retarded in order to prevent the thread from curling around the same and becoming entangled.

In my U. S. Letters Patent #l,085,792 I have described a braking member at one end of the bobbin used for this purpose, which member is connected to the resilient thread guide at the opposite end of the shuttle by a flexible means such as a string, and which byits own gravity is adapted to be held out of contact with the bobbin. Such construction has been found not to be absolutely reliable and satisfactory for the following reasons. First the braking member being pivotally suspended happens to stick in its bearings, particularly when the pivot becomes rusty, and instead of hanging down perfectly vertical, in which position it is out of contact with the adjacent end of the bobbin, it is caused to slant toward and thereby bear against the bobbin. As a result thereof the bobbin when rotated by the pull of the thread is resisted by contact of said memher with the bobbin and causes breaking of the thread. I

There is also the drawback in using a flexible connection in that the latter has to be exactly of a particular length, in order to promptly operate the braking member. lint such flexible means stretch or shrink and they fail to transmit motion to the brake.

Furthermore when the resilient guides have to be exchanged or repaired the string must be cut ofl' or detached and then again attached, which work is tedious and consumes time.

To obviate these drawbacks is the object of this invention. This I accomplish by providing a braking member that will be positively held out of operative position during the unwinding of the thread and will be pulled into operative position when the rotation of the bobbin is to be retarded or stopped. 1

To make my invention more clear the same is'illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which'Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my shuttle equipped with my improved braking means, Fig. 2 a front View of the brakshuttle in the usual manner and on which,

the bobbin is loosely borne to freely revolve thereon, e, e, 6 denote the eyelets carried by spring coils f, 7, fixed 'iniholes ofthe shuttle and g is an eyelet in the centre of the bow portion of the shuttle.

Thus far the construction is similar to the one disclosed in my aforenamed patent.

The braking member according to the pres ent embodiment,comprises a metal plate 10 provided with an oblong recess 10 and whose upper edge is curved to form a tubular socket 10 Fixed in the shuttle at one end of the bobbin is an angularly bent wire 11 or the like whose horizontal leg extends transversely through the open space a of the shuttle and serves as a pivot for the plate 10 bearing in the tubular socket 10 thereof, so that the plate which extends vertically close to one .end of the bobbin and across its spindle cl can freely swing on said pivot. The spindle cl freely passes through the recess 10 of said plate, and said member or plate 10 may come in contact with the adjacent end of the bobbin and exert a braking action thereon. The plate 10 is extended below the spindle d of the bobbin and has its lower edge also curved to form a second tubular socket 10". In this socket engages the looped end 12 of a mei'nber 12 made of Wire or other rigid or semi-rigid material and the opposite end of which is fixed to the eyelet e. This member is curved substantially to conform with the shape of the bow of the shuttle, and extends as close to said bow as possible in order not to obstruct the space at below the bobbin.

The thread 0 unwinding from the bobbin 6 is conveyed as usual from the bobbin downward first through an auxiliary eyelet h, then upward through the eyelet 6', then longitudinally through the space a toward, and through the eyelet c, then back toward and through the eyelet e and finally through the eyelet g.

' Normally the springs f, 7 hold the eyelets e, e and e retracted and, therefore, so that the member -'12 is caused to pull the brake plate 10 toward the bobbin and exert a braking action thereon. But during operation while the thread is being unwound from the bobbin and is pulled, the eyelets e, e, 6 will be drawn outwardly or toward the opposite ends of the shuttle against the tensi'onot their, springs, as a result whereof the member 12 will be caused to push the brake plate away from the bobbin, releasing the latter and per mitting it to r'evoive freely. Just as soon as tension on the thread ceases or relaxes, as during the periods when the shuttle reaches the ends of its strokes and is changed to a new line, the eyelets under the action oat their springs will be retracted and through the member 12 pull the brake plate into frictional contact with the bobbin, exerting braking action thereon.

The member 12 may be guided by a guide member 13 fixed to the bow portion a of the shuttle, whereby it will'also be held close to said bow and be prevented from obstructing the space a through which extends the thread guided through the eyelets e, e and 6 g andh.

It is, of course, understood that Various modifications may be made in the construcdescribed.

lvVhat I claim is 1. In a shuttle, the combination with a bobbin, of a piyotally suspended braking member arranged opposite one end of the bobbin, a resilient guide means 25031 the thread in said shuttle at both ends of said bobbin and a rigid connection between said braking member Iand the opposite guide means so that while the thread is being unwound from the bobbin, said braking member will be pushed away from contact with said bobbin permitting the latter to freely revolve, but when the draft on the thread ee-ases said braking member will be drawn into operative position.

2. In a shuttle as per claiin 1, in which the braking member is in form of a plate pivot.- ally suspended at .one end of the bobbin and extended below the latter and the rigid con nection in form of a Wire engaging the lower end of said plate and connected to the opposite thread guide.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

'GOTTFRIED HOFFMANN. 

